foriegn wife denied visa

[monzsenior]

My wife of almost 3 years and I live in Ecuador. We have a house here and I've been coming here for 7 years. She has a sister who lives in Miami who has cancer and she wants to go and help here and her kids due to the illness. She and my step daughter who is in College applied for a b-2 visa and were denied, we lost the 320 dollars.
We are afraid to apply again because we can't afford to keep losing this kind of money. The reason for not being accepted was she has no job here and they feel she may not return, although she has traveled to Miami in the past (with visa) and always returned. My question is did we apply for the right kind of visa and is there anything we can do but to keep paying the fee and hoping to be accepted.

Again we don't want to live there, just visit from time to time.

 

[sandyclaus]

My wife of almost 3 years and I live in Ecuador. We have a house here and I've been coming here for 7 years. She has a sister who lives in Miami who has cancer and she wants to go and help here and her kids due to the illness. She and my step daughter who is in College applied for a b-2 visa and were denied, we lost the 320 dollars.
We are afraid to apply again because we can't afford to keep losing this kind of money. The reason for not being accepted was she has no job here and they feel she may not return, although she has traveled to Miami in the past (with visa) and always returned. My question is did we apply for the right kind of visa and is there anything we can do but to keep paying the fee and hoping to be accepted.

Again we don't want to live there, just visit from time to time.

It sounds like that was the correct visa for which to apply.

Your wife and step-daughter apparently were unable to convince immigration authorities that she intended only to visit and not stay in the country illegally. The fact that you have a house here in the States probably supports their decision, as someone who isn't a citizen won't often have access to a house they own where they intend to "visit" for an extended period of time.

You say your step-daughter attends college. Where does she attend? Is she currently enrolled? Is your wife gainfully employed at home? Do you have any kind of documentation that can show that she already has a stable home, job, and other ties to the community in her home country? All of these will go far to prove her intent is as a visitor and NOT to use the opportunity to illegally immigrate.

Here is some additional information I found that might help:

How do I avoid being rejected on ground of 214(b)?

Obviously there is no sure way; otherwise everyone would have been able to secure a nonimmigrant visa. There are a few things, however, that help increase your chances.

• You must be able to show strong ties to your home country, which you have no intention to abandon. This is the most important factor with regard to 214(b). You need to convince the consulate official that your strong ties, whether it is family members, a house or a job, is going to compel you to leave the United States after your short visit or study.
• Clearly organize your supporting documents. A consular officer only has a few minutes to ask you questions and go over your application, so make their life easier.
• Answer questions truthfully. Consulate officials do interviews for a living, and have likely asked the same question thousands of times. So guessing what the "best" answer would be often backfires.
• If you have been to the United States before and returned on time, it is certainly an example that you didn't't pursue immigration while you had a chance. Your trips to other countries are helpful too.
• There is no set time as to how long you have to wait before applying for your next visa, but if you apply too soon or too often, you may have a harder time proving your ties to your country of residence.
• It helps if your relative in the US also came back and visited you in the past.

What are considered "strong ties"?

"Strong ties" may be cultural, social, professional, or any aspect of your life that has a binding effect between you and your country of residence. Family members, a job, a steady source of income, a house, an investment and bank accounts are all examples of "strong ties." They also differ from country to country, and person to person. So a decent job may be important for one applicant, but not so convincing for another. A student or a retired parent can still get a nonimmigrant visa without a job, for example.

In short, "strong ties" is a vague concept that must be proved by physical evidence. For this reason consulate officers are trained to look at all aspects of a visa application, not one particular document or piece of evidence.

 

[LdiJ]

My wife of almost 3 years and I live in Ecuador. We have a house here and I've been coming here for 7 years. She has a sister who lives in Miami who has cancer and she wants to go and help here and her kids due to the illness. She and my step daughter who is in College applied for a b-2 visa and were denied, we lost the 320 dollars.
We are afraid to apply again because we can't afford to keep losing this kind of money. The reason for not being accepted was she has no job here and they feel she may not return, although she has traveled to Miami in the past (with visa) and always returned. My question is did we apply for the right kind of visa and is there anything we can do but to keep paying the fee and hoping to be accepted.

Again we don't want to live there, just visit from time to time.

Per the the following link:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1286.html

A B-2 visa is for someone who is traveling to the US for medical treatment. Therefore yes, in my opinion that was the wrong visa.

An ordinary tourist visa would have allowed your wife to stay for up to six months at a time, why in the world would she have felt the need to apply for some other kind of visa? As far as your stepdaughter is concerned, if she wants to attend college in the US a B-2 visa is not appropriate either.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Significant ties can be a large burden to overcome, when coming from Latin American countries. Even through request to our congressman, we could not obtain a visa for my fathers girlfriend to be with him during the last months of his life.

 

[lisaanderson05]

My wife of almost 3 years and I live in Ecuador. We have a house here and I've been coming here for 7 years. She has a sister who lives in Miami who has cancer and she wants to go and help here and her kids due to the illness. She and my step daughter who is in College applied for a b-2 visa and were denied, we lost the 320 dollars.
We are afraid to apply again because we can't afford to keep losing this kind of money. The reason for not being accepted was she has no job here and they feel she may not return, although she has traveled to Miami in the past (with visa) and always returned. My question is did we apply for the right kind of visa and is there anything we can do but to keep paying the fee and hoping to be accepted.

Again we don't want to live there, just visit from time to time.

I assume you are also from Ecuador. What kind of evidence did you take with you? Does she have any other children other than the one in college? Are you working? Whether or not a new application will work depends on what was already submitted. Also, you cannot get a new appointment without paying a new fee. However, your wife may have a better chance of approval if she applies alone.

 

[monzsenior]

american in ecuador

I assume you are also from Ecuador. What kind of evidence did you take with you? Does she have any other children other than the one in college? Are you working? Whether or not a new application will work depends on what was already submitted. Also, you cannot get a new appointment without paying a new fee. However, your wife may have a better chance of approval if she applies alone.

I am an American living here. We took our bank records from here, house records, visas from past travels to USA. My passport showing I came here for 7 years before moving. The guy didn't even look at the documentation. Do you think it would be better to apply for an immigration visa. She is not working.

 

[monzsenior]

They think everyone wants to live there and we are happier here

Significant ties can be a large burden to overcome, when coming from Latin American countries. Even through request to our congressman, we could not obtain a visa for my fathers girlfriend to be with him during the last months of his life.

I find my fellow americans are very snobbish, thinking everyone wants to sneak into the country. My wife has been there 6 times and always returned only now that she is married to me an American she is denied.

 

[Zigner]

I find my fellow americans are very snobbish, thinking everyone wants to sneak into the country. My wife has been there 6 times and always returned only now that she is married to me an American she is denied.

Not everyone...

 

[Proserpina]

I find my fellow americans are very snobbish, thinking everyone wants to sneak into the country. My wife has been there 6 times and always returned only now that she is married to me an American she is denied.

Q4P.

When will you be taking the Ecuador citizenship test?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Do you think it would be better to apply for an immigration visa.

You can file to bring her in as a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder) based on your marriage. It will cost a lot more than $320.

Once she gets that, she can travel to the USA, but she'll lose it when she leaves for more than six months.

 

[Proserpina]

Per the the following link:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1286.html

A B-2 visa is for someone who is traveling to the US for medical treatment. Therefore yes, in my opinion that was the wrong visa.

An ordinary tourist visa would have allowed your wife to stay for up to six months at a time, why in the world would she have felt the need to apply for some other kind of visa? As far as your stepdaughter is concerned, if she wants to attend college in the US a B-2 visa is not appropriate either.

Read it again:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1265.html

A B2 visa WAS appropriate.

 

[lisaanderson05]

I am an American living here. We took our bank records from here, house records, visas from past travels to USA. My passport showing I came here for 7 years before moving. The guy didn't even look at the documentation. Do you think it would be better to apply for an immigration visa. She is not working.

If going to the U.S. is very important, then the immigrant visa may the only way for your wife to get to the U.S. guaranteed. However, you would need to show that you are moving back as well. Your wife will not get the immigrant visa if you are not also going to “move back” to the states. However, this is a process that may take 6 months or more. You may want to contact the U.S. Embassy near you to see if your wife would qualify for expedited direct consular filing because of your sister-in-law’s illness. If you need more information, you may want to speak with an immigration attorney.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I find my fellow americans are very snobbish, thinking everyone wants to sneak into the country. My wife has been there 6 times and always returned only now that she is married to me an American she is denied.

We have over 11 million that did, with more lining up every day. The facts speak for themselves.

 

[eerelations]

We have over 11 million that did, with more lining up every day. The facts speak for themselves.

Oh for heaven's sake, that's what US immigration believes too, and they're wrong. I was denied entry once because immigration decided that I must be trying to sneak in - I was on my way to Buffalo to do a little cross-border shopping and stay overnight to avoid the evening border lineups, I'm an educated Canadian professional, was in my 40s earning an almost six-figure salary at that time, have resided in Canada all my life, owned a house here, I'm even white for heaven's sake and I dress well, what about this picture screams incipient illegal alien? Just because 11 million others did it does not mean I was trying to do it, all the evidence about me points to the contrary.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

That is what the US taxpayer who indirectly end up supporting a good portion of them think. If you would like to contribute to their upkeep, send the US gov't a check.